ELIZABETH (NICKNAME: LIZ)

The manga tropes “blue oni” and “red oni” describe Elizabeth and Hiro respectively. Red oni means “act first, think later—impulsive and fiery.” Elizabeth’s “blue oni” means that she is smart and cool headed (although blue onis boil beneath their surfaces). When she needs to bring Hiro in line, she dominates and/or manipulates him. She purports to view him as chicken-hearted, stupid blow-hard, but later sees that his “change” is sincere. She secretly loves him but is proud and self protective due to the psychological damage incurred when she was previously an “entertainment woman” in the rough mining camps—and so she would NEVER let her feelings towards Hiro be known to he or anyone else. Liz knows that Hiro is a big danger—in his anger and impulsiveness towards the family. The fact that Hiro is attracted to her and even protective of her gives her an advantage over him. She knows how to manipulate him—but on the inside, she has a warm heart and truly wants to help Becca, Ashley and Willis. A single Mother before becoming a cyborg on the slave planet, her #1 goal is to reunite with her daughter Patty, who has since grown up since she and Hiro were imprisoned beneath the planetoid surface.

 

Liz’s love of her daughter makes her respect Willis’s desire to protect his family.